The Association of Niger Delta Ex-militant Leaders, NDEL, last weekend hosted the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, who is also the Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, to a lavish reception at Udu, the Headquarters of Udu Local Government Area of the oil-rich state.
Led by ‘General’ Joseph Figbele, the group at the well-attended occasion by ex-agitators across the state and beyond said it found it necessary to once again endorse the governorship candidate for the electorates to know how deep they are in the struggle to “rescue the state from the interlopers in government, who had held the state spell-bound in socio-economic retrogression since the birth of democracy in the country.”
At the town hall meeting were the Chairman of the broom party, elder Omeni Sobotie, the Director General of the Campaign Council in the state, Elder Godsday Orubebe, the party’s Senatorial candidate, Ede Dafinone, and many other candidates on the platform of the party while ex-militants were in their large numbers to grace the event as the mammoth crowd cheered.
In the welcome address delivered by the group’s national secretary, Abraham Ekokotu, the ex-militants among other demands seek integration of its members into the security apparatus of the state particularly the waterways security when DSP Omo-Agege becomes the governor.
The group wants the ‘incoming governor’ to serve as a bridge between the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, and its members and also prevail on the incoming administration to sustain the programmes until it achieves its goals.
Figbele group also demanded that the would-be-new governor recommends the association for the pipelines surveillance security contract award to the Federal Government, noting that the welfare of its members is paramount to the leadership.
One of the initiators, who is also a pillar in the struggle, Keston Okoro, noted in his speech that the EDGE agenda of DSP Omo-Agege remains the fulcrum of their support for him, noting that all ex-militants have agreed that the Orogun, Delta Central Senatorial remains the ‘numero uno’ for the struggle to wrest power from the ‘holocausts’ ravaging the oil-rich state.
“Your victory shall be our victory because in you we have an embodiment of good governance, discipline, honesty, sincerity of purpose, human and material developer with good conscience…and Deltans are happy having you which is obvious in all our movements across the state with you.
“The victory is here already, and we have to in advance congratulate you and the APC family for a job well done. The campaigns were breathtaking, rigorous, painstaking, and aggressive with records of huge success.
“However, Your Excellency, the ex-militant Generals are asking that in your reign, do always remember that we are your partners in progress. Always remember the arduous tasks and efforts made by all Deltans to install you as our governor, which, of course, you eminently qualified for by every standard of measurement based on your superlative track records. Therefore, kindly consider the imperatives of integrating our members into the security apparatus in the state, especially the waterways security.
“Your Excellency, always remember that the ex-militants, youths, and persons are your comrades, whose lives your government should touch positively. Our members are employable but are idle, rejected, and denied by the current administration. Your administration should kindly be the bridge between us and the Amnesty Office to better our stake in the Presidential Amnesty Programme,” the statement reads in part, adding that, it is in the process of mobilising the state electorates to massively vote all APC…